Unquestioned tuba design choices

[pjv]

Isn't one of the selling points of the Shires Rotary valve that the valve retains the same bore size as the horn itself?

http://www.seshires.com/valves.html" target="_blank

[Jose the tuba player]

The stealth tuba didn't cost much to develop.

so when you going to start mass production


well why not just use both rotors and pistons like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3pEpk_4JZg" target="_blank

[joh_tuba]

New thought: Is there any practical reason, other than tradition, that the leadpipe wraps around the bell side of the body? On many/most horns it blocks one eye from seeing music/conductor.

Without giving this much thought, seems like flipping things around wouldn't hurt anything. Also, particularly in a quintet setting it would be nice to have an unobstructed view to the player on your left.

[pjv]

Like on a Tornister. Ha ha, I've often wonder this myself. It wouldn't be such a bad thing to be a little less under the bell and a little more in closer to what's coming out. There are some examples of tubas like this in the early tuba history.

Tuba design; the perfection of a detachable mouthpipe. I've had many mouthpipes moved by tech's because I play with my mpc at a downward angle (more than most players?). The techs usually loosen the pipe at the valves, rotate it a little and then readjust the bell-mouthpipe brace. This works quite easily on many non-german style tubas.

If the seal from the mouthpipe to the 1st valve could be guaranteed to near perfection, an adjustable bell-mouthpipe brace would only be a detail. Unfortunately the technology/interest in this isn't enough to make it standard. I guess the sousaphone neck design (or tbn bell to slide lock) isn't good enough for tubas.

[MaryAnn]

Are we talking solid rotors or hollow rotors?
MA